Some Pac-12 football betting lines, if you simply can’t wait . . .

If you could dash out and lay down a bundle of cash — today — on a college-football game that’s three months away, would you do it? Well, it’s possible, if you’re somewhere near the Golden Nugget Casinos in Nevada.

This week, the Golden Nugget let fly with college lines on 200-plus football games. It must be profitable, or the casino wouldn’t be doing it.

Understand, in most casinos, you can’t bet on a college game until sometime the previous Sunday. That’s a day after Saturday’s games are in, more information is available, more known to the guys setting the odds.

Well, there’s obviously a lot about these 200 games that the Golden Nugget doesn’t know yet, nor you nor I. But they’re out there to be gambled on, and I suspect the profit margin for the casino is supported somewhat like those futures bets you make for your team to win the American League West or to capture the NFC title. They’re bets of the heart more than wise investments. That’s just my guess.

I figure there are two ways to look at the Golden Nugget’s lines. On one hand, they’re great opportunities, because so much of odds early in the season is based on public perceptions formed from a year ago, and a lot of things change in a year. Teams that went 4-8 will go 8-4. So if you’ve got solid information on the probable arc of a team for 2014, you’ve got a potential advantage.

On the other hand . . . as a bettor, you’d like to have every single bit of intelligence at your disposal when wagering. Like, you know, who the starting quarterback is. If, for instance, you’re an Oregon fan and you’re intrigued by one of the Golden Nugget’s lines, you’d surely like to know Marcus Mariota is piloting your team and not whoever might end up as his backup.

If you’re a Cal fan, can you imagine the difference in how you might have regarded your team’s chances in a 2013 game at this time last year, compared to when the Bears were injury-ravaged, scheme-challenged and demoralized a few months later?

That said, a few observations about the spreads, with the games involving Pac-12 teams listed here:

* Oregon seems to be getting a lot of love from the linesmakers, maybe too much. But they always like a team that puts up big points, and quickly.

* Arizona State, a team that lost nine defensive starters from 2013, also seems inflated. How could the Sun Devils be a seven-point favorite over visiting UCLA, the Pac-12 South favorite, on Sept. 25?

* Stanford isn’t getting a lot of ride in these numbers (although having said that, it’s also true, like ASU, that the Cardinal lost a ton of defensive playmakers from 2013). For instance, Stanford is a 10-point underdog in the game at Oregon Nov. 1, and we all know how the Cardinal have caused the Ducks problems the past two years. Two weeks earlier, it’s a 6.5-point favorite at Arizona State, a team Stanford has recently dominated.

* UCLA, a team that’s been talked about as having playoff (top four) potential, seems underappreciated. Not only is it an underdog to Arizona State (I wonder if that line might be reversed), but it’s also one at home to Oregon. Remember, the Bruins were tied 14-14 in the third quarter in Eugene last year, with a young, jerry-rigged offensive line.

* Doesn’t seem to me that either Washington or Washington State gets much respect in these numbers. Washington is an underdog at Arizona, and a 20-point ‘dog going to Eugene to try to break a decade-long losing streak to the Ducks. Oregon is favored by 23 in Pullman. Seems like a ton to me (especially since Mike Leach doesn’t put his backup quarterback in the game when it’s out of reach).